The Call of the Cthulhuby H.P. Lovecraft
How the heck do you pronounce Cthulhu?
some say kuh-THOO-loo
others say kuh-TOO-loo
I say kuh-thul-hoo
Anyhoo, I came across this creature in my Creepy Cute Crochet book and wondered what it was. If you google Cthulhu there are lots of hits. Like the Wak-Wak, it is a new creature to me.
The read-a-thon has presented the opportunity for me to read more about the origins of this creature. As I was planning on reading something from H.P. Lovecraft (inspired by Carl of Steel Droppings interview post on H.P. by Temple Library Reviews), I found The Call of Cthulhu among the stories in my H.P. Lovecraft book. Great coinky-dink moment!
Great read! Great shivery kind of horror piece.
Cthulhu is the lord of R'lyeh, and the ancient being that came from the stars hundreds of millions of years ago, to destroy the elder beings on our world. After the task was completed, the god retreated to R'lyeh and became trapped in his sunken tomb.
In the story there are instances of Cthulhu on land and in the sea. The image of Cthulhu describes him/it being entrapped in stone (not man-made). This is a good thing, because humans who get the pleasure of actually seeing this creature die or go maaaad and then die.
Being a fan of LOST tv show, I couldn't help but think of the 4-toed statue and the mysteries that lay inside it.
Do you watch LOST?
Words that pop:
When reading, certain things things pop out at me. For instance words like, velvet, zombie, filipino (or things related) are standard words that pop. The following is a sentence that popped:
American officers in the Philippines find certain tribes bothersome about this time...
-page 174 of Tales by H.P. Lovecraft (The Library of America)
What are some words that pop for you when reading?
Back to the story, the sentence above is in reference to incidents of panic, mania, and eccentricity during the time the stars were in a certain alignment. These were times the cthulhu may have been active. I wonder what kind of things the Filipino tribes were up to? Headhunting rituals?
Such a frenzied sentence - gotta love it:
Animal fury and orgiastic licence here whipped themselves to daemonic heights by howls and squawking ectasies that tore and reverberated through those nighted woods like pestilential tempests from the gulfs of hell.
-page 179 of Tales by H.P. Lovecraft (The Library of America)
*image source cthulhu
*total pages read: 29
